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Main Author: Porreca, Zachary
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.03411
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author Porreca, Zachary
author_facet Porreca, Zachary
contents Bride kidnapping is a form of forced marriage in which a woman is taken against her will and coerced into accepting marriage with her captor. Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has seen a large increase in the prominence of this practice alongside a revitalization of traditional values and culture. As part of this resurgence of Kyrgyz identity and culture, the central government has formalized the authority of councils of elders called aksakals as an arbitrator for local dispute resolution -- guided by informal principles of tradition and cultural norm adherence. Bride kidnapping falls within the domain of aksakal authority. In this study, I leverage data from a nationally representative survey and specify a latent class nested logit model of mens' marriage modality choice to analyze the impacts that aksakal governance has on the decision to kidnap. Based on value assessment questions on the survey, men are assigned to a probability distribution over latent class membership. Utility function parameters for each potential marriage modality are estimated for each latent class of men. Results suggest that living under aksakal governance makes men 9% more likely to obtain a wife through bride capture, with men substituting kidnapping for choice marriage modalities such as elopement and standard love marriages.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_03411
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bride Kidnapping and Informal Governance Institutions
Porreca, Zachary
General Economics
Economics
Bride kidnapping is a form of forced marriage in which a woman is taken against her will and coerced into accepting marriage with her captor. Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has seen a large increase in the prominence of this practice alongside a revitalization of traditional values and culture. As part of this resurgence of Kyrgyz identity and culture, the central government has formalized the authority of councils of elders called aksakals as an arbitrator for local dispute resolution -- guided by informal principles of tradition and cultural norm adherence. Bride kidnapping falls within the domain of aksakal authority. In this study, I leverage data from a nationally representative survey and specify a latent class nested logit model of mens' marriage modality choice to analyze the impacts that aksakal governance has on the decision to kidnap. Based on value assessment questions on the survey, men are assigned to a probability distribution over latent class membership. Utility function parameters for each potential marriage modality are estimated for each latent class of men. Results suggest that living under aksakal governance makes men 9% more likely to obtain a wife through bride capture, with men substituting kidnapping for choice marriage modalities such as elopement and standard love marriages.
title Bride Kidnapping and Informal Governance Institutions
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.03411